posted
The companions spoke for a further two hours, Dak introducing the Vegan Principles of Eloquent F'hutha, the Philosophies of the Huur and the True Thoughts of the Eternal One. Amalla was bored. She wanted to have a decent shower, maybe some carob falafel and spicy pea sauce. Hestalyt swooped in the air above them, flitting amongst the low lying clouds that slowly turn to pink and ochre as night approached.
The attack, when it came took them all by suprise. Father Zeus had not forgotten his promise to have his revenge on them and as the darkness slowly rose so did the Armies of Tartarus.
Jacqui, exhausted by the powers she had had to call upon earlier in the day had fallen asleep, Amalla had curled up beside Dak X'halkin, her eyes closed though her mind couldn't stop thinking about the information she had been given. After about an hour she decided to get up and walk accross to the stream for a sip of water. It was here that the goddess Artemis and her hunting dogs and crows struck.
Hestalyt, several miles above was oblivious of the trouble below as her savage siblings had appeared as if out of the air, even her space worthy senses giving her no warning of how close they were until a split second before their talons reached her.
Dak X'halkin continued to relax, his blue upon blue eyes closed. He is oblivious to Jo Nah, Ares and Hephaestus standing over him.
Jacqui dreams of the many strange Realms and Realities she has witnessed, Pallas Athena, stern and beautiful, smiles as her Olympian spell keeps the Firstfooter from awakening.
All around the party and the Olympians stand the risen dead under the charge of Lord Hades.
The sky cracks with light and thunder.
"DAK X'HALKIN, THOU BEASTLY MORTAL, IT IS TIME FOR THOU TO FACE THE JUDGEMENT OF THE ONE TRUE LORD OF THE HEAVENS. IT IS PAST TIME FOR THOU TO FACE THE WRATH OF ZEUS!"
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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His dreams were disturbed by images of five hooded women standing over him, seamingly unaware that he was at their feet. They spoke with an accent so thick and lyrical that he could only understand snippets. From what he could make out they were worried about their "singer" and "her chosen".. or maybe it was "her choosing"? The hooded figures conversation became more and more animated until Bir El believed they would exchange blows. In that strange place where dreams and consciousness mix and produce a lopsided clarity he fought to wake himself up, to move from under the feet of and to somehow communicate with these strange figures.
One of the figures looks down at Bir El and said in a tone of command "We must use him now.............!" before her accent renders the rest of her edict incomprehensible to the sleeping monk. The conversation between the hooded strangers stopped for a moment as the other women bowed their heads in respect.
The others never glance at him and he starts to thrash around determined to stand up and address them. But even as he struggles to rise the figures fade slowly out of the reach of his senses and he finds himself awake, tangled in his sheet.
It takes a moment for the normally controlled young Trom Buddhist to clear his head. He stands and quickly peers around the sleeping forest. The forest, unlike the young monk sleeps. The sky above still has the faint glow from the setting of the sun. Bir El reckoned he'd only been asleep for three quarters of an hour. With the disturbing dream still echoing in his mind he sits to meditate, aware that it will be hours before he will be able to sleep comfortably again.
"We must use him now.....!"
Even through his meditation these words rise, testing the edges of his normally ironclad resolution to empty his mind.
"...use him now..."
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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In them the fractional displacement felt by all her people as they strode purposefully amongst the Realms and Realities was replaced by an extended corridor of darkness. A darkness with no reference points recognisable to her usual astute sensitivities.
A darkness so complete that all senses simply ceased to function.
Her usually pinpoint accurate awareness of these places was, simply speaking, totally flummoxed!
As she moved in this purgatorial zone she could no longer hear the resonance of the Song of Life, her ears no longer rang with the echoes of reality around her being, her eyes refusing to acknowledge the wonders of her environment, her pale skin gave no sign of the presence of pressure against it.
Jacqui could feel only one thing, an external fear licking it's poisonous way into her consciousness. Without any apparent access to the life affirming Song of the Amber Man in this timeless, undefinable state of being Jacqui began to question herself, her memories, her beliefs. Without consciously knowing it Jacqui began to embrace the alien imposed fear as her own.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
Having swept her savage siblings away from her with the flaming Spear of Ares Hestalyt had dove out of the atmosphere and planetary gravity well and flung herself, with all her Olympian might into the star speckled space above Earth. Her ten furious siblings gave chase.
Even as she accelerated towards the Moon as it spun it's eternal elliptical dance above this world she understood that there was little hope of returning immediately to aid her strange companions. Hestalyt knew, with the sure foresight of a hunter, that her companions would be dealing with their own battles. Her only hope was that somehow they would also be able to flee and maybe somewhere they would be able to meet again.
Hestalyt flew with a speed unseen in generations, Starhaven Freetrader inherited senses allowing her to monitor her siblings progress as they gave chase. She was also aware that the Moon was currently 239,415 miles away. It would take her several desperate minutes to reach it. As she flew her siblings split into smaller groups, each taking a slightly differen approach towards the dead sattelite above.
There would be no hiding behind it.
As she approached what to any viewer from the planet below's surface would appear to be the westerly edge of the Earth's ancient companion she twisted into a sharp 45 degree angle, pushing with all the might she could muster further away from her siblings, hoping to lose the seven who had split from the party following directly behind her.
She could sense the confusion behind her as the ten Wings of Olympus spun to follow her sudden change in deirection. Three were falling behind. Hestalyt continued to fly away from the green blue world behind her, approaching a velocity that would push her beyond the Einsteinian barrier of light speed. Away from Earth and her trapped companions.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
As Amalla approached the river she knew something wasn't right.
The air smelled clean, the evening was full of nesting birds final songs of the day, her companions were at peace, but still a small feral part of her mind whispered urgent warnings.
Opening her mind out to the huge prairie around her she couldn't sense another mind above that of small birds and mammals. A small family of dusk hunting coyotes were approaching the campsite but surely they weren't the source of her discomfort, were they? Amalla felt a momentary vertigo as she reconciled her strange panic with the information her mind scan had provided.
As she sat on the banks she became aware of an absence around her. It was unlike anything she had felt before, almost like, she imagined, the space an invisible man would occupy in a rainstorm. As she focussed upon this she became aware of more of these odd vacuums amongst the aether around her. Still acting with surprising calmness she telepathically reached out to Dak X'halkin.
"Dak, there's something wrong, it's like there are <emotional subtext - genuine worry> gaps in my psi-searchs"
The Vegan prince's reply was short.
"I know. <emotional subtext - strength, determination> Be calm."
It was as this reached her that the strange gaps she had sensed accross the river started to approach her, circling around her, calmly cutting of her retreat with practiced predatorial consideration.
"Sit tight, don't let them know you know, you have the advantage <emotional subtext - calm>"
"Easy for you to say you freak"
"Yup."
As Amalla stood up, apparently unaware of what was around her, one of the 'gaps' she had sensed dove at her with frightening speed. Closely followed by ten of it's companions.
Amalla didn't bother to duck or scream, she lashed out with her formidable mind, striking with practised self preserving savagery. Each psi-bolt felled a beast, still invisible to her physical senses, yet more followed.
As she fought off these invisible enemies Amalla was unaware of the Goddess Artemis as the Olympian strode across the top of the river and casually struck her from behind, rendering the young Titanian gorilla unconscious.
Amalla never heard the Goddess sternly warn her pack to leave her untouched, as Father Zeus had ordered.
Nor did she hear the awful cries as Dak X'halkin stopped feigning sleep and arose to face the Armies of Olympus before him.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
Even as they snuck up on him, relaxed and confident in their Olympian Unseen Cloaks Dak could feel the patter of their thoughts. Not the actual words but the feelings. Like champagne bubbles betraying the inner calm of a glassful of pale amber beauty, their excitement and cockiness popped and fizzed in the aether about them, alerting Dak to their positions.
Jo Nah and Ares stand over his torso, looking at his sleeping face while Hephaestus crouched over his feet, his hands full with a tigtly rolled silver net forged in the forges of the lame gods own smithy.
They wait.
A second is an agonising time as adrenaline pumps along god given veins.
Hephaestus adjusts his pose, his damaged left leg cramping.
Dak snores gently.
Jo Nah looks to the heavens above.
Ares sniffs at the air around them, he can smell as his brother and sister Olympians appear around the great plain.
Dak stops snoring and sniffs before rolling over onto his back, broad arms flung in a wide 'X'.
The skies above open.
"DAK X'HALKIN, THOU BEASTLY MORTAL, IT IS TIME FOR THOU TO FACE THE JUDGEMENT OF THE ONE TRUE LORD OF THE HEAVENS."
Before the first word had finished Dak had kicked Hephaestus squarely on the chin with both feet knocking the unprepared god over one hundred and forty feet in the air before gravity pulled the unconscious rag doll limp body onto the dried husk of a tree that Daks team mate Hestalyt had perched upon earlier. Hephaestus screamed as the wood cracks with his landing and his good right leg is speared by an gnarly branch. His blood is spraying and his voice roaring as Zeus' thunderous edict came to an end.
Both his fellow invisible Olympian brothers had actually stopped screaming and died by that point.
While kicking Hephaestus Dak had roughly grabbed both Ares and Jo nah by their crotch with his upper shoulder left and right arms, pulling both Olympians onto his chest while his lower arms could swing into his chest, cruel elbow blades mercilessly gouging into Aries testicles and Jo Nahs left thigh. Blood sprayed across Daks face as he continued the line initiated by his powerful kick. He flipped onto his feet holding the gods by their bloody crotches. Both are screaming. Before they can get orientated he drops to his knees, the gods heads smash against the gound, Daks four blue hands flip up towards his broad chest allowing four three foot long mutant X'halkin bred elbow spikes to plunge downwards into the struggling Olympians.
The two Olympian gods stopped screaming instantly, before Zeus had finished bellowing and definitely a good two or three seconds before Hephaestus started his.
By this time of course Dak had had enough time to develop a plan of action that might provide his team with a fighting chance.
Dak challenged Father Zeus to single combat.
The actual challenge, so it's told, involved such well considered phrases as: " Red is the colour of cowards where my race come from, and as the all knowing Father of this rabble you must be aware of that fact yet you present yourself to one of the X'halkin Blood wearing it across your face in an ugly tangle", "hiding behind your children and your whores", "Like 'lightnig' how frecking pansy are you?" and the one that finally secured him a date with Father Zeus - in the areana of the Olympian rulers own choosing no less - was "ya fat old gype, have you NO pride?".
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
There was an old song Jacqui's mum had sung to her when the Soulsinger was much younger. Jacqui had never found out it's name but the words swum through her fear fevered mind:
In the garb of old Gaul with the fire of old Rome, From the heath cover'd mountains of Scotia we come, Where the Roman's endeavour'd our country to gain, But our ancestors fought, and they fought not in vain. Such our love of liberty, our country and our laws, That like our ancestors of old, we stand by freedom's cause, We'll bravely fight like heroes bright for honour and applause And defy the French with all their arts to alter our laws.
The voice that Jacqui hears didn't belong to her mother though, the voice sounded exactly like her own. In her terrified mind Jacqui remembered a song that her clan had passed down from before the Great Scottish Swarm Migration ships left old Earth over a thousand years ago. In her terrified mind Jacqui had returned to the warmth of the family camp, her parents and sisters renewing their bonds of love with shared song while readying themselves for the nights sleep.
No effeminate customs our sinews unbrace, No luxurious tables enervate our race; Our loud sounding pipe breathes the true martial strain And our hearts still the old Scottish valour retain. As a storm in the ocean when Boreas blows, So are we enrag'd when we rush on our foes, We sons of the mountains tremendous as rocks, Dash the force of our foes with our thundering strokes. Such our love of liberty, our country and our laws, That like our ancestors of old, we stand by freedom's cause, We'll bravely fight like heroes bright for honour and applause And defy the French with all their arts to alter our laws.
And within a small section of her mind she remembered the joy and pride as their counterpoint harmonised beautifully in the chorus. Under presure from the chilling dark around, some small surviving aspect of her psyche flashed images and feelings into each word as Jacqui recalled the singing.
We're tall as the oak on the mount of the vale, Are as swift as the roe which the hound doth assail; As the full moon in autumn our shields do appear, Minerva would dread to encounter our spear. Quebec and Cape Breton, the pride of old France, In their troops fondly boasted till we did advance, But when our claymores they saw us produce, Their courage did fail and they sued for a truce. Such our love of liberty, our country and our laws, That like our ancestors of old, we stand by freedom's cause, We'll bravely fight like heroes bright for honour and applause And defy the French with all their arts to alter our laws.
Her breathing calmed as she mouthed the words. Her eyes were still crunched shut and the tendons on her neck stood out like blades as fear overrode her control. Arms tightly wrapped around herself, knees pushed up to her chest, Jacqui, hesitantly, almost no more than a whisper, started to sing.
In our realm may the fury of faction long cease; May our councils be wise and our commerce increase, And in Scotia's cold climate may each of us find That our friends still prove true, and our beauties prove kind. Then we'll defend our liberty, our country and our laws, And teach our late posterity to fight freedom's cause, That like our bold ancestors for honour and applause May defy the French with all their arts to alter our laws. Such our love of liberty, our country and our laws, That like our ancestors of old, we stand by freedom's cause, We'll bravely fight like heroes bright for honour and applause And defy the French with all their arts to alter our laws.
Jacqui clawed her way out of the ball she had curled into. She could feel no sensations around her, no floor, no movement, neither heat nor cold. She breathed deeply on the tasteless air, her chin resting down her neck onto the space between the ridges of her collar bone.Her eyes were open, staring blankly ahead. She opened her mouth and this time the small Firstfooter really started to sing.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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quote:Originally posted by Ghost of Numf El: My God, B!
You never cease to AMAZE me!
Well, thanks - I didn't think it was that good
First I'm rolling on the floor LMAO at Dak calling Odin a fat gype [/QUOTE]
Funny, I was thinking "how would Numf wind Zeus up?" when I wrote it
and then my blood is bubbling and my pride is
burning and I'm feeling the drums and the beat and the passion and the victory .......
( Or are they both just due to the result in the rugby at the weekend? Maybe it was the 1812 Overture I was hearing......... )
[/QUOTE]
I was listening to Rachmaninoff and Dougie Maclean - that'll explain it really. The rugby was just a bonus
[/QB] And I bet that really there's no drum beat and it's all done on trombone and bassoon with a little flute thrown in [/QB][/QUOTE]
I'd prefer to experience Kraftwerks version, with Wayne hussey singing and Ewan MacGregor dancing a merry jig nearby
[/QB] Thank you for writing more of your superb story and sharing it with us.
Love always, numfie. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Bless you every day mannie, thank you for your kind words. Speak to you very soon.xx
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
And how do I do multiple quotes in one post anyway?
'oh:
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
She lay on the rude earth of their crushed campsite.
She could hear the thud as Dak kicked the lame Olympian Hephaestus, followed very qickly by Ares and Jo Nahs shortened screams. The Song of Life whispered their fate into her consciousness. She concentrated on the celestial music and presently located every combatant on the plain, in the heavens above and rising from the planetary mantle below.
"There!"
She spoke her exclamation aloud, sure that the roaring skies that bellowed Father Zeus' edict would hide her word from the few Olympian hounds that cowered nearby.
There above her, circling on wings of midnight above the bloody battlefield was the source of this trouble, the one who had thrown the Olympians off their True Path and into the pathetic bloodthirsty rabble that she and her companions had encountered.
Jacqui focussed on the telepathic gorilla, Amalla de Grundy. Artemis had left Jacqui's companion unconscious on the banks of the small stream certain that the gorilla would be out cold for hours. Jacqui could hear the voices of other versions of this Reality on the edges of the universal Song of Life. In another version of this Reality Amalla had not been struck so hard, that gorilla would be waking up very shortly.
Jacqui started to sing.
A quiet song, a subtle refrain.
Just enough to tighten up the bands of this Reality at a very specific minute moment of time, just enough to ensure that the force that the other Amalla had felt was shared with this versions Amalla. It wouls mean a transference back of the choice of probability later on but she knew just how to modulate that song too. Jacqui had to fight the urge to giggle as Amalla, this Realities Amalla, awoke.
The psychic gorilla visibily flinched as she stood up, the thunderous roar from the heavens above mingled with the death screams of gods were an added hurt to the pain already pulsing from the side of her head. Amalla gingerly rubbed the bleeding fast growing bump on her head. Even as she did this she was scanning the crowds around the plain.
"Jacqui? <Emotional subtext - anger, confusion> What is that weirdo Dak doing?" the telepathic question prompted Jacqui to stand up quickly. the Soulsinger of the Firstfooters kept her head down and started walking carefully over to her companion. Dak X'halkin's bellowing challenge to the High Father of Olympus echoed around her as she ran the last twenty yards to Amalla.
Jacqui started to smile as she reached her companion. "Amalla, I have something to tell you..."
The two spoke for a little over a minute while the sky above them turned bile and brimstone, the earth below started to hum with an alarmingly deep undercurrent of promised violence in motion as Father Zeus reacted to Dak X'halkin's challenge.
By the time Jacqui had finished talking to Amalla they were both smiling tight ferocious smiles. Both were agreed that it was time to sort this mess out and they would start by getting their own back on the one who had caused this fight. In fact if this went as they wanted they were going to hoist him in his own petard. Both woman were going to enjoy themselves now as they planned to trick the Trickster.
Far above the battlefield the one surviving raven Zeus had snatched from above Wotan's head many centuries ago when the last remaining Old Earths Gods fought the Battle of the Spheres of Heaven spiralled on thermals unaware that it's quisling time amongst the Pantheon of Olympus was about to come to an abrupt end.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
Read Fun and Games for the story of the Raven Wugin and his treacherous past.
Actually, you don't need to as I'll kind of recap soon but thought I'd mention it as a plug for the Leg35C series Shameless, I know but there you are, at least I'm honest about it
More coming soon as we find out the fate of a few familar characters (well two anyway) and a certain prophecy is awoken and reminded of it's purpose.
All comments welcome
Bxx
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
There were only four of her siblings after Hestalyt now. The other six had returned to Earth space in case she managed to escape those still giving chase. Hestalyt flew with all her Olympian might.
At the very edge of her awareness she could feel traces of a familiar scent. A scent she had hunted with ruthless concentration for months before the young Soulsinger had turned her from her Zeus given task. The scent of traitorous Freetrader. Approaching at a velocity that matched her own Hestalyt felt her father's prescence.
Flying straight towards her with an army of the remaining Freetraders at his side.
Fast!
Within seconds Hestalyt was aware that her siblings were drawing back as the descendants of Starhaven approached in a traditional 'V' shaped battle formation. She could sense over a hundred of her father's people, armed and charged on adrenaline and the Draft of Life.
After nearly five years in exile from the most holy mount Olympus Hestalyt was finally going to come face to face with her father, the Starhaven mystic Clear Skies Coming.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
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posted
Hey B, I know things are a bit tough right now buit when you get the time I'd love to know what's next....
Dak Xhalkin RAWKS! Killing Ares and Jo Nah in one go.... good going!
Amalla annoys me but is kind of entertaining with it, lets see her use those funky rings, and could they lead to the return of the sneaky l'il beetle from Leg35C?
Jacqui is a bit od a deus a machina with her reality altering songs, kill her!
Hestavistababy needs some character work, tho her origin bit was great, it read like a greek story, well done you....
the other blokey, monk guy, son of El, whatever, is rather dull, hopefully he'll actually do something soon...
So get going girl, your adoring fan is waiting!
Gi's a call soon eh?
Keith
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